What if this holiday season, you could give a loved one the gift of human rights for farmworkers?
In 2016, never-before-seen rights for tens of thousands of farmworkers have reached tomato fields across the East Coast, as well as bell pepper and strawberry fields in Florida. Over the past 15 years, through the tenacious Campaign for Fair Food, hundreds of thousands of consumers and farmworkers have partnered together to bring corporate giants to implement human rights in their supply chain. And the unprecedented result of that partnership — the creation and implementation of the award-winning Fair Food Program — is guaranteeing freedom to work free from sexual harassment, an end to forced labor, access to shade, water, bathrooms, the right to report abuse without fear of retaliation, and many other rights to farmworkers in the U.S. agricultural industry.
Now, our challenge is not only to strengthen and expand these rights, but to also sustain them for the long haul. And that’s why this holiday season, we invite you to give the gift of human rights to a friend or family member by making a sustaining donation in their honor.
- The AFF and CIW’s commitment to building strong coalitions and winning campaign strategies is embodied most fully during major mobilizations when we come together to break bread and take action together. Combined with some ingenuity and generous in-kind donations, just 5 people committing to donate $20 a month can completely cover the costs of a pre-action gathering with hundreds of farmworkers and allies. As farmworkers and the AFF network march in the heat or the snow, travel for hundreds or even thousands of miles to arrive, and sacrifice time at work or with loved ones to carry on the struggle for Fair Food, these gatherings are the beating heart of our organization.
- If you make a recurring donation in honor of a young person in your life, consider that if just 10 people commit to becoming Sustainers at $100 a month, the costs of 100 students and young people attending the Student/Farmworker Alliance’s annual Encuentro will be completely covered, including meals, lodging, meeting space, materials, and travel scholarships for this crucial gathering. The Encuentro is a pivotal moment for youth of the Fair Food movement to develop campaign strategy, build leadership skills, and create a strong community. And this year, it will be more critical than ever that young people are equipped to protect the future of the Fair Food Program and our communities at large.
Finally, we are sharing an example of the impact of donations to the Fair Food Sustainer Program directly from the CIW’s website:
“If 25 people gave $25 a month, the CIW worker-to-worker education team would have the resources necessary to bring Fair Food Program education to 1,000 workers in the northern states of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina each summer, where the team rises before dawn each morning, drives to distant fields, and informs workers, face to face, of their right to work free of violence, sexual harassment, and dangerous working conditions.”
Your gift in someone’s honor to the Fair Food Sustainer Program is an investment in a different future: A future where the New Day of human rights dawning in fields across the East Coast becomes the norm. It is an investment in the future of the world we are creating together – one where all people are treated with dignity and respect on the job, at home and beyond.
Join us in making that future a reality.